Thursday, October 20, 2016

STORY Signs Real People/Documentary Director Ky Dickens

Also adds
producer/sales rep Amy McIntyre.

CHICAGO—Director Ky Dickens has joined
STORY for exclusive national representation in commercials. Dickens is an
award-winning documentary filmmaker who has also enjoyed great success in commercials
and branded content centering on real people and docu-style storytelling. Her
work has earned praise for its integrity, authenticity and emotional power.
Recent credits include work for McDonald’s, Tylenol, Huggies, Kohler and the
Illinois Lottery. She is currently working on a project for Hallmark.

“Ky is a passionate
young director with an amazing gift for working with ordinary people and
bringing out the emotional heart of a story,” said STORY Executive Producer
Mark Androw. “She offers a fresh voice and perspective, and we are very excited
to introduce her to a wider market.”

Ky Dickens

Dickens will be represented by STORY’s national network of
sales representatives, including Elyse Emmer on the East Coast, Miller + Associates
in the Southeast, Gossip! In the Southwest, Yvette Lubinsky on the West Coast, and newly-signed Amy McIntyre
in the Midwest.

Dickens’ directorial career spans more than a decade. Her
2009 documentary feature, Fish Out of
Water, won four juror prizes on the festival circuit and was distributed
internationally by Netflix and First Run features. Her second documentary
feature, Sole Survivor, debuted on
CNN in 2014 and became the network’s second highest grossing film. It was named
Best Feature Film at the 2013 BMA Awards. Two more documentaries, Zero Weeks and The City that Sold America, are due for release next year.

In advertising, Dickens has previously worked through
Chicago production houses MK Films Group and Conspriacy. Her work includes a
documentary-style Mother’s Day video for Tylenol, in which mothers of varying
backgrounds talk candidly about their nontraditional families. Among them is
actress Lucy Liu, whose child was born via surrogate.

“My passion and experience lays in working with real
people,” says Dickens, “Documentary style work is a booming part of the
commercial industry. America has fallen in love with documentaries through
Netflix and that has led to a demand for more authentic commercials.”

In other recent commercial projects, Dickens has profiled
the founders of Koval, a Chicago distillery, and captured the energetic routine
of truckers and real delivery workers in a campaign for Wrangler Workwear. “I
take ownership of each spot, dive in and attack its unique challenge,” Dickens
observed. “I enjoy the collaboration with creative directors, art directors,
copywriters and producers and I love it when get a board that is going to
impact how people, think, feel and act.”

Dickens received a Focus Award for Achievement in Directing
from Women in Film. She is a member of the Gene Siskel Film Center Community
Council.

Regarding her decision to join STORY, Dickens said that she
was attracted by the company’s national reach, strong agency ties and track
record for building directorial careers.
“I wanted to join a roster that was production-centric, had a history of
creating thrilling content and had an incredible directorial and production
staff,” she said. “STORY has a reputation as the best in Chicago and that’s the
team I want to be part of.”

Joining Dickens is her
longtime producer, Amy McIntyre, who will work with her and represent STORY’s
other directors in the Midwest. McIntyre
previously worked with Dickens and MK Films Group and Conspiracy and has
produed several of Dickens’ documentaries.
McIntyre’s background prior to working at MK and Conspiracy was at Big
Deahl productions in Chicago and as a line producer in New York.

Executive Producer Mark Androw commented, “I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to
work with both of these outstanding women.
We share common sensibilities about our business and a passion for great
filmmaking. They are a dynamic duo.”